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Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations
Citation
Benn, DI and Astrom, J and Zwinger, T and Todd, J and Nick, FM and Cook, S and Hulton, NRJ and Luckman, A, Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations, Journal of Glaciology, 63, (240) pp. 691-702. ISSN 0022-1430 (2017) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2017. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
The simple calving laws currently used in ice-sheet models do not adequately reflect the complexity and diversity of calving processes. To be effective, calving laws must be grounded in a sound understanding of how calving actually works. Here, we develop a new strategy for formulating calving laws, using (a) the Helsinki Discrete Element Model (HiDEM) to explicitly model fracture and calving processes, and (b) the continuum model Elmer/Ice to identify critical stress states associated with HiDEM calving events. A range of observed calving processes emerges spontaneously from HiDEM in response to variations in ice-front buoyancy and the size of subaqueous undercuts. Calving driven by buoyancy and melt under-cutting is under-predicted by existing calving laws, but we show that the location and magnitude of HiDEM calving events can be predicted in Elmer/Ice from characteristic stress patterns. Our results open the way to developing calving laws that properly reflect the diversity of calving processes, and provide a framework for a unified theory of the calving process continuum.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | glaciology, iceberg calving, glaciological modelling |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Physical geography and environmental geoscience |
| Research Field: | Glaciology |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences |
| UTAS Author: | Cook, S (Dr Sue Cook) |
| ID Code: | 119229 |
| Year Published: | 2017 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 63 |
| Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems |
| Deposited On: | 2017-07-27 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-04-20 |
| Downloads: | 72 View Download Statistics |
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